2 Corinthians 11:4
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
It means that a different Jesus can be preached, a different spirit received, and a different gospel accepted than was first given. Paul gave it out of godly jealousy for believers joined to Christ as a chaste virgin to one husband, fearing their minds would be corrupted from simplicity as Eve was beguiled, because men were working to destroy his influence. It warns of deceptions to come in the last days when perils are present and iniquity abounds. Another spirit is not the Spirit of Christ or of God but the essence of evil holding people in satanic captivity, shown by merely emotional religion that lives on excitement without a changed heart and by unsanctified preaching that speaks rash and self-confident words that weaken truth and destroy its force. Meeting it calls for putting on the armor of righteousness, looking steadfastly to Jesus and refusing to be turned from His gospel, which can only be done by conversion and by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of divine power.
Context and Warning
Paul wrote the warning about men who were working to destroy his influence. He wrote out of godly jealousy for believers espoused to one husband, that they might be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ. He feared their minds would be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtlety. The warning belongs to his related experience in chapter 11, which is to be studied and made to speak decidedly.
The verse means that a different Jesus may be preached, a different spirit received, and a different gospel accepted. It warns of deceptions that will come in the last days. Those deceptions come in an evil age when the perils of the last days are present and iniquity abounds.
How Another Spirit Works
To receive another spirit is to come under the control of a spirit that is not the Spirit of Christ, not the Spirit of God, not the Spirit of the Lord, but the essence of evil working in every way to hold men in satanic captivity, and submission to it is amazing after evil has been accumulating for centuries. It is not the Spirit of Christ but a different, opposing spirit, and in the evil age when the perils of the last days are present and iniquity abounds it is the instrument by which delusive theories are brought upon those who have tried to walk humbly with God. To be controlled by it is to have only an emotional religion instead of the Spirit of Christ.
One mark of that other spirit is a merely emotional religion that is flighty and sentimental and depends on excitement rather than a changed heart. The imagination soars high at times and sinks correspondingly low when the cause of excitement is removed, leaving the person a burden to the church. Such religion does not bring salvation or the lasting transformation that true conversion produces. Its excitement fades and leaves the person without the sanctifying power of Christ's Spirit.
A preacher may handle truth yet not be sanctified by it, speaking under the influence of another spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. That possession is revealed by rash, coarse, rough, careless and unguarded words, and by reckless self-confidence and certainty that everything said must be accepted. Such speech weakens the truth proclaimed, dishonors God and misuses the consecrated talent of speech, becomes a stumbling block, destroys the force of even the most powerful sermons, greatly injures the truth, and makes the most precious truths fruitless. Freedom from it requires conversion, a refined spirit sanctified by the truth, humility before God, and words flowing from a heart imbued with the Holy Spirit, Christlike in character.
Another spirit leads those who take themselves out of the Lord's hands and think they can manage His work by their own ability, so that they are not led by His Spirit and Satan can step in and become their leader, bringing crookedness and subtle deception. It works through worldly compromise that can wear the garb of truth, when believers take a noncommittal position, seek the support of those who disregard God's law, and let covetousness and business concerns erode their religious life. The warning applies to ministers who mix Sabbath truth with errors and present strange fanatical manifestations as gifts of the Spirit, which are not accompanied by God's Spirit but by another spirit, and which can mislead hearers and hinder people from receiving the truth. It also appears when self-confident, fanatical men come to humble, self-distrustful souls assuring them they are possessed of evil spirits and, after praying with them, affirm the devil is cast out, bringing delusive theories upon them.
The verse stands against entering into controversies with any man and against seeking to be original by bringing in odd notions, calling instead for work that moves in a dignified, elevated, ennobling manner. A teaching presented as a new faith or original theory that uproots the established waymarks of truth comes from a spirit opposed to God's truth, leads others into confusion and away from the light, and unless the promoter changes course and is willing to learn risks making shipwreck of faith. Those who view matters with human eyesight make very grave mistakes when they engage in a work God has not appointed but has condemned, the work of criticizing and climbing upon the judgment seat to pronounce sentence. For their own advancement they should instead watchfully examine their own hearts and remove the beam of faultfinding, evil surmising, evil speaking, bearing false witness, hatred, and accusing of the brethren.
Receiving a different spirit from the Spirit of the Lord can lead a person to represent another's mind and message rather than the Lord's, as when alliance with one leader brings a speaker under that leader's influence to speak for another. There are two spirits at work, the Spirit of God and another spirit that imposes false burdens, distinguished by how reproof is given. The Spirit of God moves decidedly and irresistibly to speak reproof and warning when minds are darkened and confused by worldly customs, practices, and influences until power to discriminate between light and darkness and truth and error is destroyed and people are involving themselves in the snares of Satan. God does not lead one person to give that warning while at the same time leading others to withhold it for weeks and question whether it should be brought forward at all, so that if withholding were God's leading the burden to speak would be false and imposed by another spirit.
Resisting the Deception
The warning calls for putting on the armor of righteousness in the face of deceptions to come. It calls for looking steadfastly to Jesus Christ and refusing to be turned away from the gospel of Christ. It calls for showing before the heavenly universe an undivided life wholly on the Lord's side. Meeting it calls for a deeper experience, with Paul's account of his experience in chapter 11 studied until it talks and speaks decidedly, and for work that moves in a dignified, elevated, ennobling manner instead of entering into controversies with any person or seeking to be original by bringing in odd notions.
Freedom from another spirit requires conversion and a refined spirit sanctified by the truth. It requires humility before God and words that are Christlike because they flow from a heart imbued with the Holy Spirit, rather than careless, rash, unguarded, coarse, and rough speech joined with reckless self-confidence that everything said must be accepted. The spirit of evil must be met and confronted rather than left unopposed. It can only be restrained and resisted by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who comes with no modified energy but in the fullness of divine power.